BMW May Be Reviving The 8-Series: Report – Jalopnik

Posted: Wednesday, June 01, 2016

BMW has been busy collecting 8-Series vehicle monikers with trademark applications including the “M8″ title, with a “BMW insider” spilling to Auto Express plans for a luxury GT car to take on the new Mercedes S-Class Coupe.

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The inaugural 8-Series bowed out in 1999 never quite reaching the potential many felt it had yet to achieve, and BMW has moved on seemingly without ever looking back. Until now! Maybe.

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With the recent rumors that the next generation BMW 6-Series would reinvent itself to take on the likes of the Porsche 911 and Mercedes AMG GT, BMW is now looking to bring back the 8-Series to take on Mercedes’ other coupe offering, the S-Class Coupe.

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The report from Auto Express reads:

Trademark applications with the global intellectual property regulators reveal that BMW has already started the basic prep work. In late March it applied to strengthen its control of a string of 8 Series-related names, including 825, 830, 835, 850, 845, 860 and M850.

A BMW insider has confirmed to Auto Express that the move was not merely a case of the company ring-fencing the badges for possible future use, and that it reflects an imminent rejig of BMW’s GT line-up.

BMW has also applied to register M8, signalling the potential arrival of a production car that was originally considered back in the early nineties

While an 8-Series GT-type coupe makes all sorts of sense, the 6-Series that currently fills that role has seen less-than-stellar sales as of late, another reason many believe it’s being re-worked into a 911 fighter.

But nonetheless there is competition for such a car with Mercedes selling the S-Class Coupe, and it matches BMW’s trend of sexier even-numbered coupe-versions of their odd-numbered offerings, completely inventing the concept of a “4-Series.”

I’m most exciting for the design direction BMW will take for an M8, if it’s actually working on such a thing. Is it silly to hope they wont make it too busy and bloated, and try to be inspired by the great sleek design of the ‘90s? Here’s hoping, anyway.